Most of us would agree that we practice good online safety habits when shopping or socialising online, but when applying for jobs people can let their guard down.
When job searching, people don’t always stop to question why someone may be asking for certain information. They want to prove themselves and be liked by a potential employer, which from a social engineering perspective is a risk. After all, your security software won’t protect you if you willingly give away sensitive personal information, so use common sense to protect your personal and financial details when job searching.
Be alert to security threats, help protect yourself when looking and applying for jobs online and never share personal confidential information online.
All dealings with a recruiter are confidential whether you are an employer or candidate. This is one of the benefits of working with an agency as you can engage in confidential searches. Of course you have to provide personal information such as the pertinent details of your CV, or the specifics of your hiring needs, but you’ll never need to provide banking details or other sensitive data to apply for a job.
Always search and apply online with reputable, well known recruiters, job boards and organisations asthey should use the latest online security measures. Such companies have processes and procedures in place to keep your information secure.
Never submit your CV to a site that does not provide a privacy policy, contact details such as a physical address, or is not well-known.
Never share passwords. You will likely have your own logins to the systems, portals or tools of a recruiter or job board. These are your personal logins and you never need to provide these to anyone. Similarly, if a potential employer asks for your LinkedIn or other social media account login details in order to verify your employment history, always decline.
When looking for your next role you never need to pay for a recruitment service. Keep your bank account details private as it is an employer who pays the recruiter to find the right person for their role.
As a jobseeker you should also never pay for background checks or any other review of your qualifications and experience. If someone claims that you need to pay for a background check as part of the recruitment process, question it and seek the advice of a third party recruiting expert.
